Thing # 23

Party Time!!!! I have actually made it to the end and it is prior to the due date!!!

I have learned and been exposed to a lot of new things that I had very little or no knowledge of prior to pursuing this quest. It has been a worthwhile learning experience and a good investment of the time put into it. I have seen different ways that we can reach out to our patrons.

A quote made by Steve Campion in the article "Building a social networking environment at the library" says it best: "The library is already a community space. Let's make the social web a new meeting room. We already interact in person. Let's begin interacting online."

Here's to what the future may hold in the form of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0!

Thing # 22

After having gone through this exercise for the past several weeks, I do plan to try to stay more current and up-to-date with Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 tools. Subscribing to some key blog sites and library social networking sites, along with attending some appropriate webinars, seminars, and conferences are some of the means I plan to employ to accomplish this goal. This experience has "gotten my feet wet" so to speak. It has given me an initial exposure to some of the things I had only heard of in the past and has unveiled for me a "whole new world" of the library and reaching out to our patrons.

Thing # 21 - Other Social Networks

It was rather fun exploring the other various social networking tools that exist on the web. There certainly are a lot of them! There seems to be a social networking group for just about any interest one may have, and if one doesn't exist, you could always create one.

In exploring Gather, the social networking and media site for adults, I found that I really liked two of their suggested groups. The first one was called First Chapters, which is basically a writing competition site for first time authors to have a gateway for publication. the second one was called Art Deadlines List - which was a listing of film / video festivals, competitions, grants, scholarships, and internships. I know of some young adults that would really like these types of group social networking utilities.

I currently am a member of Webjunction Minnesota. This online community is a great utility tool to support library staff with technical and library development materials. I have used this site in some of my MSLIS coursework as a reference tool for projects I have worked on.

Other social networking sites that were of interest include: Classroom 2.0, College 2.0, and the Teacher Librarian Ning.

Thing # 20 - Libraries and social networks

I am currently a member of Facebook and have been for a few months. The one group that I am a part of is the Berntsen Library group at Northwestern College. While I have not used the site a whole lot, I do find it useful for keeping up-to-date on events that are occurring with "my friends."

The library has also used Facebook to advertise student-worker parties or library outreach events. Utilizing Facebook to communicate events has worked well. Students at the college regularly check their Facebook accounts and many have attended advertised events through the invitation extended through this medium.

Thing # 19 - Podcasts

The podcast that I chose to listen to was one that was found under the MN Public Radio podcasts - Grammar Grater with Luke Taylor. This site is a weekly podcast about English words, grammar and usage in the information age. It basically takes words that can be easily confused in usage, such as "assure," "insure," and "ensure," and explains proper usage giving examples along with the explanation. This particular weekly podcast is a neat tool as a gentle reminder of proper usage of the English language. This would be one that I wouldn't mind using with the RSS feed feature.

In browsing through the podcast directories, I found that I could not access podcast.net. I could look at each of the other ones, however. One of the features that I particularly liked in the directories was the ability to pick the genre that I was interested in. Podcast Alley had a link in their directory to do exactly that.

I also liked the Educational podcast network and how that was laid out by grade level - elementary, middle, or secondary or by subject specification. One of the podcasts that caught my eye on this site was the weekly web tools podcast - a great way to stay up-to-date on Web 2.0 tools.

Thing # 18 - You Tube and other online videos

Browsing around YouTube was a lot of fun and one could easily spend a large amount of time exploring what is out there. It is amazing the actual number of videos that have been posted.

The video I chose to post was a time lapsed image of a flower blooming. We live in a world surrounded by beautiful things, unfortunately we sometimes get too busy to appreciate them. These types of videos remind me to take time to "smell the roses" - slow down a bit and enjoy that which is around me.

The way that YouTube could be utilized in the library would be similar to some of the examples presented in this thing. The one I particularly liked was the tour given by the Winona State University.